Employees will give their best if they know you care

Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of the Retail Leaders Circle (RLC) event in Dubai, Professor Roebuck revealed that in most organisations today, only around 30 per cent of people care about what happens.

Dubai: Just showing that you genuinely care about your employees can improve the effort that they put into their jobs by over 24 per cent, Professor Chris Roebuck says.
Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of the Retail Leaders Circle (RLC) event in Dubai, Professor Roebuck revealed that in most organisations today, only around 30 per cent of people care about what happens. The rest of them, he said, are just doing their job to the minimum that they can to earn a paycheck at the end of the month.
Roebuck, who is one of the top 15 HR thinkers in Europe, said that the concept is to get the remaining 70 per cent of employees to care.
"The organisations that perform at their best are the ones where everybody cares -from the top to all the way down. So how do you achieve this? You need to get two things done. First of all, people need to give their best, and they will only do that if they care. Secondly, you then need to get them to focus on what is important for success. And this is important because it is possible for people to be enthusiastically doing the wrong thing, because the organisation hasn't aligned them to what is important," he explained.
So how do you get people in an organisation to care? Roebuck notes that a manager can start with something as easy as a dialogue exchange and letting employees know that they are valued. "Why should your employees care about their customers, or you, or the company, if you have at some point not shown them that you genuinely care about them? It's that simple."
"What I like to do, is that I ask people to write down all the things that the best boss in their career has done on a day to day basis to make them feel inspired and motivated to work, and to give their best. And, I know, without even looking, what employees will put on that list. It includes the most basic of things, such as understanding that I make genuine mistakes; asking for my opinion and ideas; telling me what is going on; developing me as a person and professional; leading by example; trusting me; and acting with integrity," he said.
Roebuck guaranteed that a manager or CEO, who adopts these behaviours will have employees that are giving their jobs their best efforts. What gets superb performance is not telling people to do their job, but employees being in an environment where their boss is supporting them, trusting them, and empowering them to deliver the job, he noted.
"We know for a fact that if you do these things, then you are going to get 30 per cent more effort from 60 per cent of the people in your organisation almost immediately. It is a surefire way to get results without any extra cost or investment on the part of the organisation," he added. "A manager that explains to his team or an individual, how what they do fits into the bigger picture, can get 36 per cent more effort from his team, compared to a boss who doesn't bother, so make sure everyone in your organisations knows why you are going in a particular direction."
He added: "Figures suggest that 50 per cent of profitability is actually delivered by people doing things that are over and above their own job responsibilities. In those organisations that perform well, they are looking out for opportunities to help the organisation succeed, even if it is not specifically part of their own job. In a way they are becoming your best brand ambassadors and this is when your organisation takes off."
- rohma@khaleejtimes.com